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Japan

2019-05-23T06:05:05Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:982A:D4C4:2D32:79E2:

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'''Nippon''' or '''Nihon''', known to foreigners as Wa, Yamatai, Jipon, Zipangu (plus a thousand spelling variants of that) and (most commonly nowdays) '''Japan''' is a country. It is a series of several thousand islands, the exact number of which depends both on the definition of "island" (minimum size) and if you ask them or the Russians. Despite the many islands, most of the population is centered on four main ones. It is nominally an [[Empire]], but of the past thousand years an Emperor has held power beyond figurehead for less than 80 of them. [[Samurai]], [[Ninja]], [[Oni]], [[Tengu]], and [[Kitsune]] originate here. The most common religions (and those most likely to have analogs in a fantasy setting) are Shinto, various types of Buddhism and a Christian minority. Unlike many countries, the two major religions aren't entirely mutually exclusive, though no one would outright list their religion as "multiple". It is often said that the Japanese are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist. Native systems include ''[[Maid RPG]]'', ''[[Record of Lodoss War]]'', ''[[Queen's Blade]]'', and ''[[Zettai Reido]]'' as well as the CCGs ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' and ''[[Fire Emblem|Fire Emblem Cipher]]''. The most popular game within the country however is, of all things, [[Call of Cthulhu]]. The manga [[Quick Start!!]] is also worth a mention.

Japan's history geographically spans several million years and thousands nationally/culturally, but most fiction (even native stuff) and /tg/ only care about the following periods starting at the fairly late 1467

*'''Sengoku Period''' - A succession crisis over who will become the next shogun, the man who really held power in Japan. Eventually devolves into everyone wanting the pie for himself. While this era lasted for almost 250 years, most only care about the last 40 (1560 onward) or so, when defacto unifier Oda Nobunaga began his rise to power and enough Europeans visited to document the happenings as a neutral enough third party. Everything before this is regarded as a bunch of stalemates for the most part. Gun spam was popular at the last part of this era, leading to the country having more guns per capita than anywhere else in the world at the time and the development of tactics that would last up till the introduction of the metallic cartridge. Near the end of the conflict one of the largest powers led an invasion of the Korean peninsula which ended in a stalemate and withdrawal (since these forces had more important things to do back home). Both sides are still bullhurt about it to this day, especially thanks to the repeat during World War II.
*'''Edo Period''' - After the reunification of the land a long period of peace ensued. A few decades into this however a brief Christian rebellion led to the expulsion of foreigners and began the sakoku ("closed state") dictate where minimal outside trade occurred. This seclusion would last till July 8th 1853 when an American fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo to forcibly reopen trade. This set off a widespread division and panic in the government on what to do.
*'''Meiji Period''' - In 1868-1869 the boy who would become known as Emperor Meiji took advantage of this panic to seize power back from the shogunate in a relatively short and bloodless war. Under his rule the country would refuse to bend over and become a colony like many primitive nations at the time had. It quickly modernized, abolished the caste system, replacing the samurai with a conscript army, and became a world power onto itself. In 1894-95 Japan would crush China in the Sino-Japanese war and establish itself as the dominant power in Asia. 1904-1905 they would crush Russia in a totally unexpected victory, something that ''really'' got them noticed. The era ended with Meiji's death in 1912.
*'''Taishō Period''' - The rule of his son till 1926. Largely seen as a period of stability following the rapid change of the Meiji era. The country's entry into World War I is the main thing of note here. During the war the Japanese navy dominated the pacific. This showed the victory in the Russo-Japanese war wasn't a fluke scared the shit out of the rest of the world.
*'''Shōwa Period''' - The rule of ''his'' son. Best known for the country's role in World War II. While this era would last up till the Emperor's death in 1989, the Emperor was reduced to a figurehead after the country's defeat in 1945 (and it's debatable if he was more than a puppet for the past several years before that).
*'''Post-War Shōwa, Heisei and Reiwa periods''' - Beyond this Japan is just another first-world country for /tg/ purposes. Very little non-native fiction has modern Japan as it's primary setting, though it is a stock foreign destination. Japan is however a relatively high priority country for games set in the "real world but..." to explain the differences from reality of. The exception is the [[Cyberpunk]] genre, where Japan dominates the world culturally and financially since at the time of the genre's origins it was believed that Japan would achieve ''economic'' conquest of the world in the future and despite the Lost Decade and other economic setbacks it remains as a tradition of the genre.

== Self Defense Force ==
After World War II, Japan was hated and feared by the allied powers, and unlike West Germany it was not seen as a critical barrier to Soviet invasion. As such Japan was forced to adopt a constitution that prohibited an army, navy or air force and renounced the right to belligerency. As the Cold War heated up, NATO realized Japan ''was'' critical to preventing Communist dominance of the Pacific. Accordingly Japan was able to exploit a loophole and create a "self defense force" that was an army in all but name.

While not the latest tech, the JSDF's equipment is absolutely modern and contains plenty of armored vehicles. Their main rifle is the Type 89, a pretty straightforward AR-18 variant that uses STANAG (M16) magazines. Unlike the British AR-18 variant, the Type 89 actually works since 1: They had the original AR-18 specs (Howa was previously subcontractor for manufacturing the AR-18) instead of a crude copy by people who never used a firearm before 2: It wasn't built by workers who knew they were going to be fired immediately afterwards. Improvements like freefloating and optics mounting are considered, but budgetary concerns prevent adoption.

By the number, the Maritime Self Defense Force is at worst a match for the Russian Federation's pacific fleet, though would be heavily outnumbered if the arctic fleet or Baltic fleet reinforced them (reinforcements from the black fleet however are unlikely). While it has no aircraft carriers (Not too surprising since only the US, French, Italian, British, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Indian navies have them. The Chinese and Indians bought them from the Soviets when they went bust. Italy with 2 and the US with 11 are the only ones with more than one.), the JMSDF has a pair of "helicopter destroyers" that were quite clearly designed with a conversion or variant that carries fixed wing aircraft in mind. The obviously intended conversion of one of these into a proper aircraft carrier was announced in December of 2018 and caused more than a bit of butt-hurt in Korea.

By the same post-war Constitution, Japan is expressly forbidden from having nuclear weapons, and their history with them makes the vast majority of the population OK with that. They do however have a large nuclear power industry and a space program, so there's no doubt they could easily make some and ICBMs to go with it if they wanted to.

==Japan Analogs in Fantasy==
* [[Nippon]] of [[Warhammer Fantasy]]
* The [[Tau Empire]] of [[Warhammer 40000]]
* Kozakura and Wa of [[Kara-Tur]]
* Jinin, The Forest of Spirits and Minkai of [[Golarion]]. Less direct analogs in the setting include Shokuro, Shenmen, and Chu Ye.
* [[Kamigawa]] of [[Magic the Gathering]]
* [[Rokugan]] from [[Legend of the Five Rings]], though while culturally Japanese it takes great influence from many other Asian cultures.

==Why living in Japan sucks==
Despite what [[Weeaboo]]s would have you believe, living in Japan stinks. Not only do they still treat minorities like shit, but their police force is also worse than any western nation you can name and are utterly corrupt. A 90%+ conviction rate is impossible without at least a quarter of that being false testimonies. In Japan everything is expensive and just about everyone is underpaid, as this is what happens when you fetishize a business culture and without a bunch of crappy books written as fetish fuel by some Russian whore.

Like Meat? Love Taco Bell or Hamburgers? Too bad, it costs way too much. Want to buy mecha models, figures or BluRay discs from your favorite anime? [[Rage|That too, is overpriced]]. Remember when we said that people are underpaid? Well, your favorite mango and animu artists are as well and are working themselves to death, for what barely counts as minimum wage. The idiots over 50 in the Diet and elsewhere than wonder why their birthrate is falling. The obvious answer is that if young people don't have money to own a home, they're not going to give a flying shit about making babies.

Additionally they were never 'deimperialed' the same way the Germans were 'denazified' following the second world war, which goes some way to explain why the Chinese and both Koreas still hold grudges from the second way war (despite the South Koreans and Japan sharing a <s>sugar daddy</s> powerful ally in the form of the United States), in a way that the Germany and Israel do not. If you have an older family member over the age of 50, they may still hold a grudge about this as well. Oddly enough, Taiwan does not care that as much since it would rather focus its hate against the mainland communists and many have good memories of the island's modernization under Japan.

And on top of all that is the fact that you are one of two nations that tend to get a front-row seat to the nuclear saber-rattling between the North Koreans and the Americans. Indeed, due to World War II grudges, those sabers are often rattled at you. Additionally having so many US bases means that if something ever does start between the US and China, you are going to have a front row seat to that "World War III push here to start button" even if you rather not. (Doesn't help that China hates your guts more than anyone else out there and will gladly send the nukes your way first due to the countless wars and atrocities between you two, regardless of whether or not the U.S maintains a presence on your islands)

Overall: Japan has issues, not insurmountable ones nor one totally unique to it, but they are perhaps more exacerbated then most other developed nations and certainly not helped by the Geopolitics of the region.

[[Category: History]]

Halfling

2019-05-23T04:33:47Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:982A:D4C4:2D32:79E2: /* Halfling Subraces */

''For the Halflings of Warhammer, see [[Halflings (Warhammer)|Halflings]].''
[[File:Halfling_Rogue.jpg|300px|right|thumb|A halfling rogue. Just look at that smug bastard!]]

'''Halflings''' are a race of short, docile, inoffensive [[demihuman]]s native to the various realms of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Whilst they tend to have a particular adeptness at thievery, if only due to their small stature makling it easy to sneak around or go underestimated, they are traditionally considered as a race to be more interested in simple pleasures than becoming [[Adventurer]]s.

Despite the [[Half-Elf|shared]] [[Half-Orc|naming]] [[Half-Dragon|convention]], halflings are a full-blooded race, not one of [[human]]ity's many halfbreed spawn, although jokes about the nature of "Lings" and "Quarterlings" (halfling/human hybrids) are pretty old. They are no relation to [[Half-Goblin]]s, although that could be an interesting racial redesign for them.

==Origin of Halflings==
Unlike the other [[demihuman]] races of D&D, halflings have no particular mythological origins. Instead, they are intimately tied with the origins of D&D as a game. Quick recap: Dungeons & Dragons began as [[Chainmail]], a medieval wargame that slowly evolved into a role-playing game, making its fateful trip towards D&D when [[Gary Gygax]] and his buddies decided that they wanted to try and use their game to play in a fantasy world based on the various fantasy novels they were fans of - most particularly, the [[The Lord of the Rings]].

Thus, the [[Hobbit]] was carried over from its roots on [[Middle Earth]] to serve as a PC race for the earliest editions of D&D. That was, until the infamously litigious [[Tolkien]] estate heard about it and slapped Gygax with a warning (to be fair, Tolkien did invent the word "Hobbit"). Rather than remove the race from his game - he may not have been too fond of the fantasy elements himself, but bugger the idea of being forced to drop them - Gygax simply renamed them "Halflings", taken from a nickname/insult used against hobbits in the LotR trilogy. Long story short, it worked; the Tolkien estate could no longer sue them for their use, and so halflings have continued into the game ever since, constantly tweaking and tinkering, but rarely completely unrecognizable from their ancient roots.

==Halfling Physique==
Halflings are defined, first and foremost, by their short stature. Unlike [[dwarves]], who are stout and compact blocks of muscle, or gnomes, who look like severely stunted (and often visibly aged) [[elves]], halflings look pretty much entirely human, save for the height. To be more precise, they have near-perfect 1:1 bodily proportions in comparison with humans, so they still look just like humans with scaled down sizes, not dwarves (in the "humans with dwarfism" sense). It's generally accepted that halflings age like humans and have adult proportions - [[shortstack|or overly generous proportions]], but some sources have described them as looking more "youthful" than humans, or even looking just like unaging children.

One of the more contentious aspects of the halfling physique is the halfling foot. Specifically, just how accurately do halflings mimic their hobbit ancestors in terms of having large, tough and hairy feet? This is something that has shifted back and forth across the editions.

==Halfling Culture==
Traditional halfling culture has changed a lot over the editions.

Back in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], they shared the same attitudes as their hobbit ancestors; they lived simple, bucolic lives in fertile farm country, where they fished, farmed, hunted, snared and generally lived the lives of content rural peasantry. They have no great ambitions outside of living a comfortable life, full of the simple pleasures - predominantly food, celebrating with their friends, strong drink and sharing various little trinkets and baubles. Gift-giving is especially important to them. Family is hugely important, and fittingly enough, halflings often have huge families.

Problem was, that kind of lifestyle isn't conductive to going out and be a hero, so when 3rd edition came along, the developers decided it was time to add some reason for the halflings to come in contact with the rest of the world and occasionally adopt a lifestyle of murderfucking monsters for fun and profit like proper adventurers. Whilst they still had a lot in common with their old selves, now they tended to be nomads who lived in travelling caravans, wandering where the winds take them.

4th edition continued in 3rd edition's steps, portraying its halflings as river-dwellers who lived on houseboats and traveled the lakes, creeks, streams, swamps and deltas of the world, surviving through trade.

5th edition went back to 3rd edition, with a heavy dash of AD&D.

===Setting Variants===
Some settings, such as [[Golarion]] and the [[Scarred Lands]], present a more [[grimdark]] take on the AD&D version of halfling culture; because of their small stature and lack of aggression, they depict other races as enslaving halflings and putting their skills at arts, crafts and agriculture to use as slaves.

On [[Dark Sun|Athas]], halflings are savage, tribal hunters, using druidic magic, stealth, [[psionics]] and poison to take down any living creature - including other sapient races - and have it for dinner.

Whilst [[Eberron]] has some of the "traditional" 3e halflings on it as well, it's more famous for its culture of [[dinosaur]]-taming [[barbarian]] halflings, because, seriously, that shit is [[awesome]].

In ''Wicked Fantasy'', the "haffuns" are quintessential household servants. In fact, it's considered uncommon for a human family of standing ''not'' to have haffun servants. They're so efficient at maintaining a house and family that it's almost suspicious. The haffun sense of hospitality is such that being invited into a household means they're part of the haffun's family and thus deserve the respect and care that entails. It also means keeping the family's secrets and disposing of thieves, slanderers, and others who insult the family's honor. Think Alfred Pennyworth, but three feet tall and both willing and able to kill, bribe, or blackmail any threats to the Wayne family without them ever suspecting a thing.

===Halfling Religion===
The halfling religion is fairly simple. Most halflings adopt, or at least respect, the faiths of their closest neighbors but they do have their own dedicated pantheon. Small and unassuming, the two most important figures in it are [[Yondalla]], their creator-goddess, and Littleman, the iconic halfling folk hero who thrills and delights the little 'uns with stories of his winning over the bigger and scarier races of the world through charm and cunning.

==4e's Boat-Rocking==
Despite the bad reputation D&D 4e has, it actually turned halflings into a surprisingly badass race. Born of a [[/d/|passionate lesbian tryst]] between [[Sehanine]] and [[Melora]], then abandoned before being adopted by [[Avandra]], halflings of the [[Nentir Vale]] are a race of quick-witted resourceful, courageous, inquisitive and surprisingly tough humanoids who claim the rivers, marshes and swamps of the world as their territory. Lacking great territorial ambitions may mean that they have no empires, but neither do they have disastrous falls in their history; halflings are the one race who ''haven't'' suffered great disasters or declines, and their oral traditions preserve lore and information that even the [[dwarf]] and [[elf]] races have forgotten. As the best boaters in the world, their river caravans are a vital source of trade and information and they are essential in preserving their local communities by keeping the chain of goods and news flowing.

For more information, check out this link: https://pastebin.com/AwRtBkqw

==Halfling Subraces==
Although not as mutable as even the [[dwarf]] and [[gnome]] races, never mind the [[elf]] race, there are still quite a few different species of halflings scattered throughout the D&D multiverse.

To begin with, remember, halflings began as rip-offs of Tolkein's [[Hobbits]], and even their names are little more than literal translations of Tolkein's names for them. This is most evident in the Hairfoot (from "Harfoot"), or the AD&D Common Halfling. This was nothing more than your vanilla hobbit; short, prone to fat, quiet natured, good humored, and fond of living in comfort, with particularly large and hairy feet.

The Hairfoots, for obvious reasons, couldn't last and so in 3rd edition their place was taken by the Lightfoots. These halflings are essentially the bastard lovechild of a Hairfoot and a [[Kender]], combining most of the Hairfoot's common sense, love of creature comforts, and big hairy feet with the Kender's slender build and some of its adventurous nature. The result was a peace-loving race of small nomads who werent' all adventurers, but were more likely to do so than Hairfoots. Lightfoots got far more love give to them in 4th edition, losing all vestiges of their Hairfoot ancestry in terms of appearance and growing to a height slightly taller than a typical ten-year-old, but underwent a harsh devolution/were replaced by Hairfoots in 5th edition.

The Tallfellows (taken from Tolkein's Fallohides) are... well, they're basically elven halflings. No joke; they speak elvish, they live in treetown villages in deep woods, preferably where elves live, they can detect secret doors like elves, they're stealthier in the woods, they get super-high (19) Dexterity and Wisdom, they live the longest of any of the three main halfling subraces... they're elven halflings.

The Stouts (taken from Tolkein's Stoors) are the dwarven halflings to the Tallfellows being the elven halflings. They're strong, muscular, stocky halflings with a predilection for dwelling underground, infravision, they have facial hair (something other halflings lack), they have a natural talent for mining/jewel-making/stonemasonry/building/smithing/carving and boat-building, and they live longer than Hairfoots. In 5th edition, they gained the dwarven traits of poison resistance and increased constitution.

The notorious [[Kender]] are, although certainly similar to halflings in resembling slightly fey human children that never grow up, generally not accepted as proper halflings. The halflings who've actually met kender insist on this, saying instead that they are some other race that has simply evolved to fit the "halfling niche" on Krynn. Given their seemingly incurable genetic predisposition to thievery and stupidity, many players suggest that they may be a strain of [[goblin]] that has tried to escape the usual fate of its species by evolving to look more human-appearing "cutesy".

The Rhulisiti, as they call themselves, are better known as the [[Dark Sun|Athasian Halflings]] elsewhere. Degenerated from the heights of glory, these dusky-skinned and feral halflings jealously guard their home in the Ringing Mountains, hunting everything that isn't one of their own kind -- including fellow sapients. Amusingly, virtually all other sapient races in the setting are descended from them in some fashion.

The Furchin are a race of halflings from the frozen world of Falakyr, reached through the use of [[Spelljammer|spelljamming]]; though they live as Stone Age nomadic hunter-gatherers on their own world, an unknown wizard attempted to take many of them as slaves, leading to individuals or even whole clans being scattered throughout the spheres. Per TSR traditions, their name stems from the fact that they have the ability to grow proportionately massive beards, longer even than those of the Stouts, whom they otherwise resemble. They first showed up in a Spelljammer adventure, although good luck finding out which one that was, and then were made a playable race in [[Complete Book Series|The Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings]]... not that anyone actually remembers them.

[[Birthright|Cerillian Halflings]] resemble the Hairfoots, but are actually refugees from the Shadowworld, giving them the ability to look into that otherworldly plane and, if necessary, travel back and forth. They rarely bother, however, because their kinsfolk still live in abject slavery there.

Ghostwise Halflings are native to the Chondalwood region of [[Forgotten Realms|Faerun]], an isolationist species of near-feral halflings who have mutated to better survive as stealthy hunters. Most notably, they use telepathy to communicate rather than talking. They are very likely based on the diminutive Wolfrider elves of Wendy Pini's "[[ElfQuest]]" comics, who also live as isolated hunters and speak to each other telepathically. However, this has not yet been confirmed by any WOTC employees.

Golden or Amberhair Halflings are native to the [[Kingdoms of Kalamar|land of Tellene]] and claim to be the original species of halfling on their world, which they share with Lightfeet. Distinguished by rich golden-brown hair, they're also renowned for their brilliance and thoughtfulness.

The halflings of [[Mystara]] call themselves "Hin", a name which was subsequently co-opted for them in the [[Forgotten Realms]]. They have their own nation, the Five Shires, which was covered in the 8th of the [[Known World Gazetteers]]; unusually for halflings, they actively protect themselves, having not only a strong local army in the form of halfling militias, but even their own navy of halfling [[pirate]]s. Yes, you heard us right. Mystara was a really ''weird'' setting. Oh, and when within the Five Shires, hin not only have a natural resistance to emotion-manipulating magics, but those who've reached 5th level can attempt to counterspell any kind of magical attack once per day, and hin clans pool their collective spirits to create a magical energy called "blackflame", which not only freezes instead of burning, but can be manipulated by halflings to achieve magical defenses and create magical items. They also have a somewhat Amish-like tradition of ''Yallara'', which is a culturally reinforced tendency for teenage halflings to get really strong wanderlust and go off to become [[adventurer]]s - they still do the "down to earth folksy thing", but that comes ''after'' they've been out, seen the world, and raided a few dungeons. Frankly, the fact that peace-loving [[human]] and [[elf]] [[wizard]]s tend to settle down in the Five Shires and will do violence to protect their peaceful lives almost seems like overkill.

The [[Jerren]] are a super evil offshoot of lightfoot halflings who are known for using poison.

==Halfling Stats==

===OD&D===
Hafling are limited to the Fighting-Men class in OD&D. Halflings cannot progress beyond the 4th level (Hero), but they will have magic-resistance equal to dwarves (add four levels for saving throws), and they will have deadly accuracy with missiles.

===BD&D===
In contrast to its association with the [[Thief]] class in AD&D, the BECMI Halfling is more of a prototype for the [[Ranger]]. It's considered a [[demihuman]] [[fighter]], requiring 9s in [[Dexterity]] and [[Constitution]] to qualifying for and considering [[Strength]] and Dexterity its primary ability requisites. Maxing out at level 8, though able to continue increasing to Attack Rank K, it has a similar magic resistance unlockable trait to the BECMI [[Dwarf]], and also inherently gains increased AC against bigger foes, higher initiative, and a bonus to hit rolls with missile attacks. They also gain a resistance to breath weapons, like the BECMI [[Elf]]. Their special trait is Woodland Abilities, a 90% chance to hide when in wilderness conditions (although they can't move whilst hiding) - this drops to a mere 33% chance to hide when in urban conditions.

===AD&D===
The Hairfoot Halfling originally appeared in the Player's Guide for [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. The other subraces would get their turn to shine in "The Complete Book of [[Gnome]]s and [[Halfling]]s", which provided stats for not only the Stouts and Tallfellows, but also the Furchins, Rhulisti and even [[Kender]].

According to "The Complete Book", all halflings, regardless of subrace, share the following traits - it's unclear if this actually means the Rhulisti, Kender and Furchins as well, or just the "normal" Hairfeet, Stouts and Tallfellows.
::+1 to saving throws vs. spells, rods, staves, wands and poisons per 3.5 points of [[Constitution]].
::+1 to attack rolls with missile weapons.
::When not in metal armor, a halfling that is either alone, accompanied only by other halflings/[[elves]], or 90 feet away from the rest of its party inflicts a -4 penalty on its opponents' Surprise rolls. This decreases to -2 if doors or other screens must be opened.
::A halfling with mixed Stout bloodline has a 25% chance of having Infravision 30 feet, according to the PHB.
:: Class & Level Limits: [[Cleric]] (8), [[Fighter]] (9), [[Thief]] (15), [[Multiclassing|Fighter/Thief]] (8/15)
:::Halflings with an Ability Score of at least 15 in their class's Prime Requisite can increase their level limit by +4 (Cleric 12, Fighter 13 and Thief 19).

Why the Stout, Tallfellow and especially the Furchin have the same clas & level limits as the Hairfoot is just one example of how AD&D pigeonholed its races.

;Hairfoot Halfling
::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/17, Dexterity 8/19, Constitution 10/18, Intelligence 6/18, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 7/18
::Ability Score Adjustments: -1 Strength, +1 Dexterity
::+2 to Reaction Rolls against [[human]] NPCs.
::Bonus Language: 1 Human dialect

;Stout Halfling
::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 5/17, Dexterity 8/19, Constitution 10/19, Intelligence 6/18, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 5/18
::Ability Score Adjustments: -1 Strength, +1 Dexterity or +1 Constitution
::Infravision 60 feet
::Bonus Language: 1 Dwarven dialect
::75% chance to detect sloping passageways.
::50% chance to determine direction when underground.

;Tallfellow Halfling
::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/17, Dexterity 8/19, Constitution 10/18, Intelligence 6/18, Wisdom 7/19, Charisma 5/18
::Ability Score Adjustments: -1 Strength, +1 Dexterity or +1 Wisdom
::Bonus Language: 1 Elven dialect
::Can recognize a secret door by rolling a 1 on a D6, just like an elf.
::+2 to Surprise rolls when in forest or wooded terrain.

;Furchin Halfling
::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/17, Dexterity 8/19, Constitution 10/19, Intelligence 6/18, Wisdom 3/17, Charisma 7/18
::Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, -1 Strength, -1 Wisdom
::Free Proficiency point in Cold-Weather Survival.
::+4 bonus to all saving throws versus magical and mundane cold-based attacks.
::-4 bonus to Armor Class against [[Giant]]-type creatures.
::-2 bonus to Armor Class against [[human]]-sized creatures.

;Rhulisiti (Athasian Halfling)
::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/18, Dexterity 12/20, Constitution 5/20, Intelligence 5/20, Wisdom 7/20, Charisma 5/20
::Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength, -1 Constitution, -1 Charisma
::Class & Level Limits: [[Cleric]] (12), [[Druid]] (12), [[Fighter]] (12), [[Gladiator]] (12), [[Illusionist]] (16), [[Psion]]icist (Unlimited), [[Ranger]] (16), [[Thief]] (16)
:::There are some differences between versions of the [[Dark Sun]] corebook, which you have to refer to for the rhulisiti's class information. Above information refers to the '''Original''' version of the setting; in the '''Revised''' version, the Illusionist was removed and the Druid was bumped to maxing out at level 16.

===3rd Edition===
Naturally, halflings were right there in the player's handbook in 3rd edition, a place they have occupied in every edition since.

::+2 Dexterity, -2 Strength
::Small
::Base Speed 20 feet
::+2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Listen and Move Silently.
::+1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
::+2 morale bonus on saves against fear, which stacks with the +1 racial bonus above.
::+1 racial bonus an attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Rogue]]

[[Kingdoms of Kalamar]] had an alternative halfling, the '''Golden or Amberhair Halfling'''. Creative and adaptive, they are named for their iconic rich golden-colored hair. They're considered to be more intellectual and scholarly than normal halflings.

::+2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength
::Small
::Base Speed 20 feet
::Low-light Vision
::+1 racial bonus to all saving throws
::+2 morale bonus on saves vs. fear (stacks with above).
::Shared Heritage: +2 racial bonus on Innuendo checks made against other halflings.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Psion]]

''Races of Faerûn'' published the variant "Strongheart Halfling", which was literally the PHB Halfling but with the bonus to saves replaced by the Human bonus feat. Since this bonus feat made humans the best race in the game, Strongheart Halflings became one of the best races, beating out Human for anything that could overcome the slow speed, didn't need to make melee attacks and could survive one less skill point (Read: [[Wizard]]).

===Pathfinder===
Halflings are the same as their 3.5 incarnation but, per [[Pathfinder]] race standards, have an extra +2 in Charisma. The combination of +2 Dexterity and +2 Charisma plus their small size and save bonuses, make them a natural choice of race for charisma based casters like [[Sorcerer]], [[Oracle]], the Feyspeaker [[Druid]] archetype and the Seducer [[Witch]] archetype.

They have been given the option of taking the unique racial feat Childlike, which lets them take 10 on bluff checks when they make them appear innocent and makes them look a bit more like a human child than an actual human child. Yes, they make [[Loli|great seducers]] ''[[Loli|and]]'' [[Loli|look like kids]]. If you want to get even weirder Childlike allows them to take the Pass For Human trait, which makes them look way more (+8) like an adult human than an adult human.

Like all the core races of Pathfinder, they have options for trading out their normal racial features. There are two options of note (though several are good trades). The first is giving up Sure-Footed for normal speed, as the higher speed boosts your acrobatics anyways. The second is trading away your bonus on saves to become a nexus for ''bad'' luck and the ability to jinx enemies. On its own it's not a great trade, but there are plenty of feats dedicated to boosting this jinx if you want to specialize on it.

===4th Edition===
In 4th edition, halflings benefited a lot from the defanging of Small, as well as from a surprising increase in mobility that bumped them up to the same speed as most Medium races.

::Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma OR +2 Constitution
::Size: Small
::Speed: 6 squares (30 feet)
::Vision: Normal
: Skill Bonus: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Thievery
::Bold: +5 racial bonus to saving throws against Fear.
::Nimble Reaction: +2 racial bonus to AC against Opportunity Attacks.
::Racial Power - Second Chance: Once per encounter, as an Immediate Interrupt to being hit by an attack, force the attacker to reroll their attack and use the second result, even if this forces them to miss.

===5th Edition===
Whilst 5th edition slowed them down compared to 4th, it didn't entirely hit them with the nerf bat.

::Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity
::Size: Small
::Speed: 25 feet
::Vision: Normal
::Lucky: When you roll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check or saving throw, reroll the die and use the second result.
::Brave: You have Advantage on saves vs. Frightened.
::Halfling Nimbleness: You can move through the space of any creatrue that is a size category larger than you.
::Subrace: Lightfoot or Stout.

''Lightfoot:''
::Ability Score Increase: +1 Charisma
::Naturally Stealthy: You can attempt to hide even when only obscured by a creature at least one size category larger than you.

''Stout:''
::Ability Score Increase: +1 Constitution
::Stout Resilience: Resistance to Poison Damage, Advantage on saves vs. Poison.

==Sexy Shortfolk==
{{Monstergirls}}

You might be thinking that there's no way that halflings can be seen in a sexual light. After all, they're just miniature humans; nothing about that says [[monstergirls]], right? Wrong. That stature alone qualifies halflings for sexiness in the eyes of MG fans, whether they take the "legal [[loli|CP]]" perspective or the [[shortstack]] perspective.

And, for once, it's not entirely unjustified. Halflings have been bonking [[dwarves]] (and, it's implied, [[gnome]]s) since the days of [[Dungeons & Dragons]], and the Tallfellow halfling race has always been described as "suspiciously" elven, to the point that many fans assume they're the halfling equivalent of [[Half-Elf|half-elves]]. And then there's a certain story in "Races of Destiny" which goes something like this:

"There once was a very beautiful halfling maiden, who attracted the love of both a dwarf and an elf. However, she was vain, greedy and a big slut, so she demanded that if they would have her, they'd have to share her. Her beaus reluctantly agreed, and for this crime of having two husbands, the gods cursed her. When she became pregnant, she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl who were clearly a mix of all three races. Ashamed and horrified, her husbands divorced her and went back to their own lands. Outcast and alone, the halfling abandoned her children, who grew up and, not knowing any better, married each other. And that's where [[human]]s came from."

Furthermore, halflings have a very strong association with large families; whilst of course D&D is never explicit about these things, halflings have always been obliquely noted as possessing large, sprawling families, which fits in with their [[hobbit]] origins. And, since halflings don't find their babies under cabbages, that implies that they're getting up to a ''lot'' of shagging in private; back in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], it was noted that a single halfling home might house up to 25 halflings in it, although that is partially due to their longevity (averaging between 150 to 250 years, depending on the subspecies) and their propensity for multiple generations to share the same household.

So, we have a race where the females look, depending on your interpretation, like either [[loli|"adorable little girls" despite being ready, older and willing to shag]] or [[shortstack|curvy women scaled down to easily handled size]], and which is canonically known both for getting it on with other species and for liking sex as much as you can in an officially G-rated game. So, saying that humans and halflings have the occasional hook-up really does make a lot of sense - especially given just how human they are in terms of nature, abilities and desires. Really, what's not to love about a cute, pint-sized housewife who considers it a matter of pride to make sure every meal is delicious and the kids are brought up well?

No quarterlings have been printed yet.

==Notable Halflings==
* Bilbo Baggins, of Tolkien's Middle Earth. The original [[Hobbits|Hobbit]], the one that started it all.
** Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's cousin and adopted heir. Was involved in the theft of and willful destruction of property (specifically jewellery) and murder; as the owner, Sauron, died of mental anguish. No legal action taken. Fled the country to avoid prosecution. Final fate unknown.
** Samwise Gamgee, accomplice to Baggins in aforementioned theft, and hunting of endangered mammoth spider wildlife. After a generous donation of the Baggins estates by Frodo to his election campaign, he became mayor of the Shire. This was quickly followed by a name change to "Samwise Gardner" and coincidental loss of any records of any of his potential misdemeanors.
** Bullroarer Took, Great-Great-Great-Great Uncle of Bilbo Baggins. Most notable for his ability to ride a real horse and for inventing [[golf]] with a rabbit hole, a (non-golf) club, and the head of a goblin general while whacking it off his shoulders mid-battle.
* Belkar Bitterleaf, from Rich Burlew's Order of the Stick. Arguable, as Belkar is so fucking, eye-bleedingly awesome that he may, in fact, be a dorf. ("I am a sexy shoeless god of war!")
* Olive Ruskettle, a borderline [[Chaotic Stupid]] female halfling thief whose biggest claims to fame are stealing the name/reputation of a bard despite being "too chaotic to become a bard(!)" and helping to free the [[Saurial]]s from [[Moander]], in that order.
* Mazzy Fentan of [[Baldur's Gate]] fame, halfling quasi-paladin of justice who can and will break both your legs if you call her "cute."
* <s>Tasslehoff Burrfoot, beloved happy-go-lucky companion to</s>{{BLAM}} fuck [[kender]]s. Fuck them in the ear.
* That's more or less it. I mean, they're hardly the go-getters of heroic fantasy. Though admittedly sometimes they get involved in major events. If only because they wander into the planning tent in search of more food.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis#Discovery Flo] is not a fantasy character, but the nickname for the first fossil ''Homo floresiensis'' that was discovered, or to use there more widely known name the "Hobbit" (a possible name for them was ''Homo hobbitus''). Incredibly short Flo was determined to be 30 and yet only barely higher then three feet thus as the first member of the hobbit race we have discovered earns a spot on this list.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:2e_Halfling.jpg|The iconic Monstrous Manual halfling, showing its obvious hobbit roots.
Image:Lidda,_3e_Iconic_Halfling.jpg|Lidda, the iconic halfling character of 3e.
Image:Lidda tattoo.jpg|Lidda's got some strange tattoos.
Image:Elmore_Halfling_Rogue.jpg|3e started a definite trend to try and portray halflings as sexy-cute.
Image:Ravenloft 3e Halflings.png|[[Ravenloft]] halflings are not to be underestimated.
Image:4ehalflings.jpg|[[4e]] halflings and their notable lack of hairy feet.
Image:Primal_Halfling.jpg|4e was determined to prove halflings could be badass too.
Image:5e_PHB_Halfling.jpg|5e decided to beat halflings with the ugly stick in order to move them away from 4e.
Image:5e Halfling Ranger, Brynn Lightfingers.png|Though that might just be due to a really poor choice of main artists.
Image:Pathfinder Halfling Ranger.jpg|Being small does not mean halflings can't be creepy.
Image:Halfling Cavalier.jpg|A halfling wardog-riding [[cavalier]].
Image:PF Halfling Slave.jpg|Halfling slaves are a not-uncommon feature of darker/edgier D&D settings.
Image:PF Halfling Scout.jpg|Halflings make surprisingly good [[scout]]s.
Image:Halfling_Barwench_2.jpg|The context in which your party will likely encounter halfings.
Image:Hobbit_knight.jpg|Being short means you're just right height to [[Angry Marines|stab those fucks in the balls]].
</gallery>

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